LP

So... continuing on my story about my Dad and the things he did to pass the time while driving, remember last time along Federal Highway, just before Motorola where the row of shops are, there was once a furniture store called LP there, as in Lampu and Perabut ?

And they hds this huge LP sign high atop their roof which we can see from afar ? Remember that one ?

Well.. whenever we passed that shop Dad would start to ask what else could LP stands for ? And they must be connected, must have a link the L and the P, just like Lampu and Perabut.

That was fun. The challenge to think of something new was exciting. When Dad first asked, we were shouting the answers but as time passed and we could not think of anything else, everytime we passed by that damn shop we would quiet down and started thinking.

Even now when the shop is already gone, I still try to come up with something new.

Some of the LPs we thought of,

Longkang and Parit

Lantai and Penyapu

Lansuyaq and Pontianak

Lempang and Penampaq

Laut and Pantai

Lepat and Pisang

Laici and Pulasan

Laser and Pistols...

and a hoard of other stuffs that I have forgotten about.

Good huh ?

Can any of youy come up with a new one ? And not just new but a really clever one like my favourite, Lempang and Penampaq.

Down memory lane again

So… I watched a bloody good Malay drama on TV9 yesterday.

Sedih tau…. About Abang, Kakak and Adik. Good acting by that girl who sounded stupid talking in Malay who was Adik, Nor Khairiah I think her name is as Kakak and the Abang … well… mamat yang dalam cerita Melayu best masa bulan puasa tu yang si Kamil suka giler tu… Nama cerita I dunno. Sorry….

Anyway… the direction is good le… I like the way that flashbacks were narrated with the help of still photographs. Uber, uber refreshing. Although the cerita is a bit cliché… I mean I know what was going to happen at the end 20 minutes into the story but still… it didn’t make me shudder in geli-ness at all. Amazing ain’t it ?

I sms-ed Kamil and asked him to watch it and as soon as the story ended (like I knew how it would), Kamil called and a wailing me answered. Benci !!!!!!

As soon as I hung up with him, keluar pulak Usrah. You know the Islamic talk show with the ustazah with that amazing voice, mendayu-dayu mengaji. I tell you her mengaji is really mesmerizing.

Anyway, Ustazah for some reason started berpantun (with Kak Pah) and heheheh…………… it reminded me of something that happened dulu-dulu.. which is very typical of me. I am predictable.. I know.

Anyway… ha ha… it reminded me of the time when I started dating Kamil…when … we err….used to berpantun…together-gether.

I know .. It sounded so ludicrous.. I mean we dated in the 90s and not the 40s but berpantun we did last time.

Okay… it started innocently enough. I can think of a pantun really fast. Not because I was clever but just because I was trained by my Dad. My Dad used to force us kids to make up pantuns whenever we were in the car (plus sajak and syair and a hoard of other stuffs, I kid you not… of which I will tell more later…).

Whoever tak dapat buat pantun kena cubit dengan semua orang. Who wants that ? There were 8 of us and to be pinched by 7 people, simultaneously, is horrific, okay.

When any of us couldn’t make up a pantun fast enough, my Dad would shout “Jom cubit dia !!!!!” (gleefully, I must add) and the poor guy would be descended upon all his/her siblings’ outstretched hand, going “Waarrrrgggggggggghhhhhhhh !!!” Sound effects mesti ada punya. At times aku rasa my Dad just wanted to main cubot-cubit aje.

All right… not all the times kena cubit…sometimes kena boo or kena gelak berdekah2 tapi when that happened, badan tak sakit.. but hati membara…. Hhehehe… And yang selalu kena were us the big ones… The small ones on account of their age never get to make up pantuns but they get to pinch us… So unfair...

Anyway… I was used to it (plus my dad's method gave me no choice but to be good at it)and I just wanted to test if he can really think on his feet, you know. But… who knew… heheheh…. I mean… I had always loved it… I love pantuns… but it never entered my mind that it could be sooo romantic when I exchanged them with Kamil.

Admittedly he was slow…. Heheheh…. but….he was sweet… making up pantun about my nose (which he called buttony… now sadly he called insignificant…), about my other good points (which had mysteriously vanished from his mind as he could only think about my not so good bits now).. and it was sweet.

It made me giddy for days afterwards… and loose my sleep over as I relieved every word and every tone he used. Sadly I couldn’t even remember what it was now… his pantun that I used to hafal macam hafal sifir…apart from the subject matter. And even that one is a bit hazy.

So… that was that. Kamil and I…. berpantun during our courtship… Kat 7-11 seksyen 6. Me with muka berminyak, and my usual t-shirt and knee-length shorts. Him with his... err.... Dr. Mahathir's specs.... Eh tak lah... I think masa tu he had changed to a more acceptable wire-rimmed glasses.

I think.


Kuang, kuang, kuang.

We go AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW………………………

I am away from home again today and I miss my children. Funny how when they are not around all I can think about is how sweet they are….. He heh….

Like when I went to Mom’s house one day and Mom, my sister and I decided to go out in Mom’s car. I was to leave my own car at Mom’s and before we go to our destination, we sent Adik and her cousin E to my house first.

Upon hearing our plan, Adik quickly went inside my car and grabbed E**t, Abang’s toy giraffe before jumping into Tok’s car.

“Yang kau sibuk dengan E**t tu kenapa ?” I asked her because it is Abang’s, not hers.

“Ohh… I know you will be late and nanti Abang will miss E**t……” she said.

Awww………………….. So sweet…so thoughtful. I was soooo touched and vowed not to be too hard on her … which of course was short lived.

And then there was this one time when Kamil and I went to the movies without them. Come 9.30pm, she called me and said, “Mum…mee (I love it when she called me like that… ), saya nak tidur dah…. Good night, darling and please don’t come home late….”
I went awww………… the whole night, relieving her words and her sweet voice over and over again. To Kamil she sms-ed a picture of a person sleeping with a message, “Good night Bah”. Hehehhehehee…

Last weekend Kamil and I went furniture hunting and of course Abang didn’t want to come so it was just the 2 of us plus the little Clown. Her ears were plugged to the earphones, listening to songs but somehow she could hear her father teasing me. Suddenly Kamil received an sms and it was his daughter from the backseat saying, “Abah ni merepek lah”. Hehehhehe….. how cute can she get ?

And on that same trip, Kamil and I found a cute frame with “The princess is asleep. Please do not disturb” written within on a pink background. They also have the same one for the prince in pale blue background and we bought both.

Kamil thought it was a waste to buy that for Abang as Kamil was sure Abang won’t appreciate it but ….. before Abang went to sleep, he grabbed the sign and took it upstairs with him. While he was in the loo, I hung it at his curtain hook. When he saw it, he gave this huge mega-watt smile and went, “Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwww…………………………” proving to me that he is still a baby after all.

Aww………… my babies !!!

Valentine's Day

Very funny lah... I still have some of the flu I got from the karaoke session and today I woke up with a new full blown one.

Sakitnya kepala, dengan hidung sumbat and mata berair and been sneezing.

I am in front of my mom right now, writing this while watching her barbecuing succulent chickens. Can't smell much but am inhaling the smoke. Oh.. but I can smell the durian my sister is eating next to me, though. Bosan.

Made cookies for Kamil's niece tadi. And then some for my family plus some cheesecake, leftover from yesterday's tarts.

Oh... last weekend Adik asked me when is Valentine's Day ?

"Valentine's Day tu apa ?"

"Ohh.... it's a day for your boyfriend..." She answered immediately. What ? I asked, saja je. But she got embarrassed pulak and just smiled without answering. I pressed for an answer and finally Abang yang jawab.

"Valentine's Day kan Mummy is a day where couples, adults... like you two have a romantic dinner....Dia orang macam show how much they love each other lah......"

OOOOhhhh.... he he....

"Allah suruh ke kita celebrate Valentine's Day ni sebab I didn't know about this ...."

"Errr.... maybe not lah.... I think people in England lah yang celebrate....."

Heheheh.....

"Oohh... then kalau Allah tak suruh tak payah lah kita celebrate okay ? Kita cuma buat apa yang Allah suruh aje..... Yang Allah tak suruh tak payah lah...."

"Eleh...." sambung Babahnya. "Mummy ngan Abah everyday have dinner together so we celebrate Valentine's Day everyday then....."

Yalah... said Abang and smiled ruefully.

"So... kalau Abah and Mummy keluar Valentine's Day together korang bagilah ? Just the two of us have dinner ?" Kalau depa dah besaq tu mesti kata how contradictory we were.

"No !" Adik answered immediately.

"Adik.... biar lah... Usually Valentine's Day people get babies !!" Abang hissed angrily.

Errrr.......... I think I need to hear the full version of his understanding of Valentine's Day...

Anyway... Kamil tengah tertonggeng-tonggeng barbecuing a huge lobster. Dia bawak satu aje lepas tu tak nak share so my siblings sepakat suruh dia bakar sendiri... Hehehhe... padan muka.

Okay peeps... nak makan.

10 sen

Today Kamil's sister ada buat kenduri doa selamat sikit. I promised her tarts so after sending my kids to their teacher, I walked across to get strawberries.

Dodged a few cars, walked on the row of shop's pavement and saw a shiny 10 sen lying on the floor.

I smiled as I walked past it as if I were younger, I would have picked it up and thought how lucky that day was for me.

And aku terus teringat dulu-dulu when the pasar malam at our area was just down the hill from our house. One night mom sent my big brother and I to the pasar malam quite late for something.

Anyway, it was really late as the vendors had started packing and some had already left. As we walked I suddenly stumbled upon a RM 5 note on the floor ! What luck !!! My brother and I were so happy and that started our little escapade to look for money (surely accidentally dropped from somebody's pocket). By 9 pm we would sneak out of the house and begin our mission.

Both of us would walk slowly, heads down carefully scanning the road, pushing the garbage with our feet in hope of exposing any treasures hidden.

We got lucky sometimes, the rest of the times we came back empty handed but it was fun. Sometimes we didn't even find money but stuffs that took our fancy... you know silly stuffs that were valuable to scavenging kids. Sometimes CT would follow us, drinking from her bottle all the while.

When I think about it now... My God how dangerous that was !!!! We were exposed to so much danger, all kinds of it. I am sure up until now Mom doesn't have an inkling of our nightscapades. I am sure she would have had the heebeejeebees if she had known.

Well... it is better if she didn't.

So... that was what the sight of a 10 sen coin reminded me of. It reminded me that I had quite a nice childhood.

Fish and chips and highways and fevers ...

Yesterday Ian took us for dinner at a British pub for a lip smacking fish and chips. It was good.

Ian picked me up at my office in Subang, then not 2 minutes after that we were stuck in a massive traffic jam. So he entered Putrajaya, then took the MEX highway, exited at Jalan Tun Razak and we arrived at Kamil’s office like 40 minutes after that.

Amazing isn’t it ?

Anyway the fish was superb. The chips were too good to be true. I had the barramundi which was nice and flaky and yummy.

The ambiance was very pub-like… what with the noise and all …but it is a pub so if you are looking for a more intimate dinner, don’t go. I like it, though.

I am still not well. I think I have the longest coughing bout in history. I have been coughing for almost 2 months now. That is according to my colleagues who apparently have been keeping tabs on my health.

Last week after Adik recovered and I was well enough to go to work, Abang got infected. His is much worse though as we had to rush him to the hospital on account of his high fever and he was getting quite delirious.

He slept with us for 2 nights which was unpleasant what with his girth. Oh yeah… his GP said he has to lose weight the next time he sees him which is next month. But when we weigh him at the hospital, he has put on 2 kg.

Yikes. What am I going to tell the doc ?

I have been having headaches for 2 days straight. Tummy also not very good.

Not a good February at all, is it ?

Ciao !

This is my cry for help....

Hai.... aku tension.

Had to lari from my bed sebab dah penuh dengan my admirers.

How lah to rest when all 4 of my kids, the human kind and those that hail from the animal kingdom, pun dok sekali ? Both humanoids dok bergaduh and then bersembang and then dok bergerak2 sampai katil bergoyang2. Tambah lagi pening kepala aku.

Yang the furries pulak dok tenyeh muka depa kat muka aku... I really don't know what they want from me. I mean, in Moggy's case, I am sure the kids can scratch him... but why is he insisting it to be me ? As I am writing this at the dining table, he is sleeping at my feet.

Yang bestnya yesterday morning before Kamil went to work he ordered his son to lift Moggy up to the bed (he can't perform any high jumps nowadays on account of his bad foot kan)because "Moggy tu nak tidur dengan Mummy....". What the.... So I was stuck with him who kept massaging me and sometimes out came his nails.

Adik pulak kept talking. And talking and talking until I had to tell her to stop because my head could not take all the incessant chatter.

Adding to my headache is her obsession with being British. She kept asking for hot tea and speaking in that ridiculous British accent. Her May I's is really getting on my nerve.

"Mummy rasa macam nak mati lah, Dik..." I said wearily.

"Oh... janganlah.... But if you do I just want your purple recipe book because I want to cook like you..."

Ada ke ? Really, dik ? And Abang of course le mengamuk sakan dengar Adik cakap macam tu and then they fought while Nosey meowed and meowed and Moggy purred on my chest.

I think I need to be admitted to the hospital.

The flu

I am sooo sick today.

I was sick 2-3 weeks ago. Ubat pun masih ada lagi. And now demam lagi.

Pening kepala.

We planned to go for a picnic yesterday but no go due to my condition. And Adik's. she has high fever too and keep vommitting.

I slept and slept and slept as all my medications induce sleep. For the flu, for the cough and for the fever. I believe my pening kepala now is more because of the many, many and continuous sleep than anything else.

Maybe because I am super stressed out. Usually the body losses it's defenses if you are stresses so that is why I have been sick.

Health is indeed wealth.

Take care.

Stock up on your vitamins to ward of sickness.